1,600-MW Margherita Power Plant Yet To Get Coal Linkage

A coterie in New Delhi has been allegedly preventing coal-linkage to the proposed 1,600-MW Margherita coal-based power project, said sources in the Power Department here. Sources plea that Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal should personally take up the issue with the Union Government with due earnest, arguing that commissioning of the project would not only reduce Assam’s dependence on outside the State power generators, but will also boost the State’s economy.Sources allege that to serve the interest of the big private players in the country’s power sector, even after a series of meetings, the coal linkage to the proposed 1,600-MW Margherita coal-based thermal power project has not yet been sanctioned.

The country, which had only 0.64 lakh MWs of installed capacity in the early 1990s, can now boast of a total installed capacity of 3.31 lakh MWs of power due to some major changes in the power policy, which facilitated entry of big private sector players in the power sector.

In this changed scenario, where installed capacity far exceeds demand, the public sector thermal generating stations, particularly those belonging to the State Electricity Boards and their successor generating utilities, are being forced to back down and even shut down their stations. This is done to provide load against load guarantees given in the power purchase agreements (PPAs) they have signed with the private sector independent power producers (IPPs), through regressive the deemed generation clauses. Read More…